USC Community Service Annual Report 2012-13

Serve.

Inspire.

Lead.

COMMUNITY SERVICE Annual Report 2012–2013

University of South Carolina

Organized service efforts at the University of South Carolina began in 1989 with the establishment of the Office of Community Service, located in the Department of Student Life.

THE MISSION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS: To promote volunteer service as an integral part of the educational values of the University of South Carolina. We cultivate programs that foster university engagement within the larger community which emphasize a deep commitment to learning through reflection. Through the integration of community service programs across the curriculum and co-curriculum, we strive to prepare students for a lifetime of community leadership and responsible citizenry. (Revised May 2007) Editors: Theresa Harrison Beth Brink Kim McMahon Designer: Jessica Langs 2 University of South Carolina

MEASURING SUCCESS

During 2012-2013, USC volunteers were involved in hands-on community service, philanthropic fundraising, community-based research, service-learning and advocacy initiatives. These volunteers included representatives from student organizations, university departments, academic units, service-learning classes and campus partners.

TOTAL IMPACT: $9,618,880.80* *Estimate based on 2011 value of volunteer time in South Carolina at $17.20 per hour (www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time?s=volunteer%20time), as determined by the Independent Sector. Report statistics based on voluntary submissions from USC campus partners for the period of July 1, 2012–June 30, 2013. For more information on how to contribute to future reports, contact the Leadership and Service Center at (803) 777-3197 or saserve@mailbox.sc.edu.

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COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS Community Service Programs (CSP) provides resources to help students, faculty and staff become connected to the community. Community service interns and the coordinator are available to consult individuals on volunteer placements with more than a hundred non-profit agencies in the Columbia area. CSP’s website also highlights upcoming service opportunities and has a link to an agency database. Those interested in volunteering are encouraged to subscribe to the Serve Carolina listserv, which is distributed bi-weekly. This can be done via a link on CSP’s website. The following are major initiatives of the CSP office:

ALTERNATIVE BREAK TRIPS

The Alternative Breaks (AB) program consists of substance-free, community service-learning trips during the university’s fall, winter and spring breaks. AB participants travel locally and nationally in teams to different cities, engage in active service and gain new perspectives on social issues. Participants also help meet community needs while learning about and building upon community assets.

Fall Break: Sea Island Habitat for Humanity Johns Island, S.C. Winter Break: LGBT Advocacy & Awareness Washington, D.C. Spring Break: Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Atlantic County, N.J. Martha O’Bryan Center (Poverty) Nashville, Tenn.

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C.R.O.S Ministries (Poverty) Palm Beach, Fla. Lower Nine (Disaster Relief & Poverty) New Orleans, La. Disaster Relief Tuscaloosa, Ala. Possumwood Acres (Animal Rescue) Hubert, N.C. Sam’s House (Environmental Awareness) Merritt Island, Fla.

CAROLINA CARES

During the month of November, CSP coordinates the collection of stocking stuffers to benefit the Salvation Army, Holiday Mail for Heroes for the American Red Cross and the adoption of families to benefit the Nurturing Center. This year, the Gamecock community contributed 502 stockings, 1589 holiday mail cards for veterans and adopted 30 families.

The culmination of the season of giving was the 58th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITY FAIR

In order to increase student awareness of volunteer opportunities, CSP sponsors the Community Service Opportunity Fair at the start of the fall semester. Students had the opportunity to visit information tables for 27 non-profit organizations on Greene Street and learn how to get involved in the Columbia community.

COMMUNITY SERVICE INTERN PROGRAM

Five undergraduate students were selected to serve as community service interns during the 2012–2013 academic year. Community service interns are part-time staff members with CSP who assist students, student organizations and university faculty and staff with developing individual and group service initiatives.

SERVICE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

A collaboration with Leadership Programs, the 2013 Service Leadership Institute focused on enhancing and supporting student involvement on campus and in Columbia. Activities included a personality assessment, understanding of social issues facing Columbia and participating in a service project at Historic Columbia. This year, 27 students graduated from the institute.

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Service to Humanity

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MLK DAYS OF SERVICE

MLK Days of Service recognize Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy through three days of service. The 2013 celebration was the 16th annual event, which engaged 610 students, faculty and staff volunteering with 38 agencies in Columbia.

In addition to the MLK Days of Service, CSP coordinated an event series planned by the MLK Student Planning Committee. These events included: • Hearing Yesterday’s Struggle, Envisioning Tomorrow’s Future: Poetry & Choral Celebration • A Vision of Freedom: Art & Photography Display • Mississippi Burning: Carolina After Dark Movie • MLK Blood Drive: Co-sponsored by Carolina Service Council • Smell the Roses: Civil Rights In the 21st Century: Diversity Dialogue, Co-sponsored by EMPOWER & Capstone Conversations

SERVICE SATURDAY PROGRAM

Through CSP’s Service Saturday Program, 636 USC volunteers served at 15 community agencies this year. New agencies served as volunteer sites, including the United States Marine Core Mud Run, elementary schools and middle schools, as well as local gardens and parks.

WEEKLY SERVICE PROJECTS

Impact leaders are part of CSP’s new initiative to expand the current “Fill the Van” program.

An impact leader serves as a liaison to a community service agency for a full academic year.

Impact leaders serve a vital function in helping CSP reach new community agencies that need volunteers but may not be a good fit for our larger programs. This year, 381 participants served at 13 unique service sites and completed 88 projects.

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FEATURED PROGRAMS

USC students and Cocky traveled to elementary schools around the state to read to children and talk about the importance of life-long reading to eliminate illiteracy in South Carolina.

Between July 2012-June 2013, Cocky’s Reading Express (CRE) visited 69 schools, child development centers, and libraries across the South Carolina and distributed more than 15,497 books to children. Children are given a book to take home after making a pledge to Cocky to read aloud at home with their family. CRE is a partnership between Student Government and the School of Library and Information Science.

During the 2012-2013 academic year, the Office of Student Engagement identified 67 sections of 37 unique courses as service-learning classes. This represents a 45% increase in the number of sections offered in 2011–2012. Service-learning classes were featured in 19 different academic departments representing 9 of the university’s 13 colleges and schools.

Enrollment in service-learning classes included approximately 1,822 students in 2012-2013.

For the fifth straight year, Continuing Education and the participants of the Carolina Master Scholars Adventure Series, a summer camp program for 6–12th graders during June and July 2012, gave back to the Columbia community. Each week, the program highlighted a different local charity and requested donations from students and the USC community.

Organizations receiving donations this year included City of Columbia Animal Shelter, The Oliver Gospel Mission, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Columbia, Sistercare, Inc., Ronald McDonald House Charities of Columbia and Harvest Hope Food Bank. After collecting the donations, the scholars packed them up and presented them to the organization each week on behalf of USC. The USC chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a team from the Arnold School of Public Health, Peace Corps, ACOLL Coffee Cooperation, La Victoria Medical Clinic and Colegio Técnico Eugenio Espejo worked to develop a water pipeline in La Victoria, Ecuador, for local coffee farmers who suffer from summer droughts. All travel and material funds were raised by the chapter through fundraisers, grants and presentations. The public health team also worked to create a health education curriculum based on water quality education that will be taught Fall 2013.

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Inspire and Empower

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Personally Engage

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ScienceQuest is an informal after-school science and technology program geared towards elementary and middle school students. Once a week for 10-12 weeks, 2-person teams work with 3-5 students to explore a science topic that they identified at the beginning of the program. The ScienceQuest program allows the science community to serve homeless and needy children by inspiring them to consider science as a possibility for the future.

Each year, the USC School of Law conducts the Pro Bono Program, which provides legal research, drafting, translation and other skills to those in the community who might not otherwise wise be able to afford it. In addition, law students served as Guardian Ad Litem, active arbitrators and as South Carolina Probate Court Special Visitors. Students also processed paperwork and tax reports for low income and elderly clients. They hosted 7 Good Deed Friday events that benefited various organizations and shelters in the community. The School of Law’s semi-annual “Best Class Food Drives” resulted in 33,704 pounds of food donated to Harvest Hope Food Bank.

University 101 classes participated in a variety of service projects during the 2012-2013 school year. U101 classes helped with an after school program at Satchel Ford Elementary School, Harvest Hope Food Bank and Family Connection’s “Buddy Walk” fundraiser for down syndrome. They also assisted at the Boo at the Zoo event at Riverbanks Zoo. Classes helped repair and clean several homes in Columbia. Funds were raised and donated to SisterCare and Palmetto Project.

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FEATURED PROGRAMS

Carolina Science Outreach (CSO) is an entirely student-run initiative to help promote scientific literacy in South Carolina. CSO currently offers a variety of presentations addressing topics in areas such as physics, chemistry, biology, environmental sustainability, engineering and computing. This year alone, CSO reached almost 2,000 South Carolinians from ages 5 to 100 with their presentations and events.

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University of South Carolina hockey players read to Lake Murray Elementary students and answered questions about being college hockey players.

Engagement in the Local Community

Campus Recreation provided service throughout the year. Intramural Sports held a “Vote & Stroke Golf Scramble” where participants were encouraged to bring canned and non-perishable goods to donate. The USC lifeguard staff raised money for the Ronald McDonald House, which benefits families who need a place to stay while their child is hospitalized far from their home. The lifeguard staff also worked on Project Holiday Joy, where they adopted 14 underprivileged local children who were nominated by their bus driver, after seeing their needs on a daily basis. The lifeguards raised money and bought clothes, toys, shoes, and games for the children who were surprised with their gifts on Christmas morning. The Campus Recreation facilities student staff donated welcome baskets for children arriving at the Epworth Children’s Home.

4,500 undergraduate students representing 39 fraternities and sororities provided 103,872 hours of service to the community. These students also raised $658,794 dollars for charities through their programming efforts throughout the year.

USC’s American Heart Association Heart Walk Team, made up of 326 students, faculty and staff, exceeded totals for the last five years by raising $4700.00.

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FEATURED PROGRAMS

EMPOWER, Carolina Judicial Council and Zeta Phi Beta worked together to collect 32 winter coats for the Midlands Homeless Shelter.

FEATURED PROGRAMS

Dance Marathon at the University of South Carolina is a student-led philanthropy that raises funds and awareness for Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital, Columbia’s local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. It is an annual 24-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping event where students celebrate the “For The Kids” (FTK) philosophy. USCDM 2013 raised more than $224,510 for the kids at the Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital.

Relay for Life is set up through the American Cancer Society and is run by the student group Colleges Against Cancer. More than 3,000 students visited Blatt Field on April 20 and spent 12 hours celebrating life, hope and pushing for a cure for cancer. This year, teams of students raised more than $173,000 for the American Cancer Society, a $75,000 increase from the year before. The number of participants also tripled. The 2013 numbers make the USC Relay for Life event one of the top 10 college relay events nationally.

The Carolina-Clemson Blood Drive is sponsored by the Greek Programming Board and is the largest student-run blood drive in the country. In 2012, a total of 7,189 individuals donated blood that was used in the Midlands. This was the 28th year of the competition and the fifth year in a row that Carolina won the annual competition.

Homecoming hosts Canned Creations annually and collected nearly 14,000 cans this year.

After the food drive, more than 11,000 pounds of food were donated to Harvest Hope Food Bank. The Homecoming Committee worked together with Sustainable Carolina and EcoReps to recycle all of the paper, wood, and supplies from the parade floats.

Beta Theta Pi organized a benefit run that gathered more than 1,000 students with all proceeds going to those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing. Through t-shirt sales and donations, Beta Theta Pi raised $4,500 for the victims. President Pastides gave an inspirational and heartwarming speech, followed by a sovereign rendition of “Sweet Caroline,” a Boston staple.

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Outreach Initiatives

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Mutually Benenficial Service Projects

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The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues (PACWI) serves as an advocate for women faculty, staff and students at the University of South Carolina. The committee participated in several service projects during the 2012-2013 academic year, including: the Thousand Thanks Card Drive for U.S. soldiers, donations for SisterCare, MLK Days of Service and yard work around the St. Lawrence Place Property for homeless families.

The Lutheran Campus Ministry partnered with Habitat for Humanity International to build homes in Usulutan, El Salvador, during spring break. The homes were built for those who lost their homes in 2001-2002 during earthquakes. They had been living in “temporary” sheet metal structures since that time.

The C.S. Lewis Student Center worked with Streetside Ministries, which serves meals to the homeless to allow students an opportunity to give back to the community and become more sensitive to the humanity of the homeless.

McNair Scholars Association and Carolina Scholars Association hosted a bowling fundraiser to raise money for GlobeMed, a USC public health student organization, and their summer trip to India to provide prenatal maternal care. The organizations also sponsored a plastic bag drive for Harvest Hope Food Bank, which has an extreme need for plastic bags. They also assisted in the Omega Phi Alpha Polar Run, which was a clothing drive and fun run.

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FEATURED PROGRAMS

USC served as a lead partner in the inaugural CityServe Columbia initiative, an intensive week of service designed to involve thousands of Columbia citizens across all domains (business, education, government, faith community, military, social sector and arts) working together to improve our city. USC hosted a “donation station” and collected food for Harvest Hope and books for Cocky’s Reading Express.

Leadership and Service Center, Department of Student Life, Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support.

For more information or to be included in future reports, please call 803-777-7130 or email saserve@mailbox.sc.edu.